News Release

Lady Gaga Teams Up with Staples to Support Education and Inspire Positive Classroom Experiences Nationwide

Staples Announces $2 Million Donation to DonorsChoose.org and Born
This Way Foundation

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 22, 2017--
Lady Gaga is teaming up with Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) to support
education and create a positive classroom experience through its Staples
for Students program.

Lady Gaga is teaming up with Staples, Inc. to support education and create a positive classroom experience through its Staples for Students program. Lady Gaga recently met with students in California during the filming of the upcoming Public Service Announcement for DonorsChoose.org and Born This Way Foundation. (Photo: Business Wire)

The partnership builds on Staples’s long-standing commitment of
supporting education and helping teachers and students.

Staples today announced it is donating $1 million to Born This Way
Foundation, an organization founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia
Germanotta. Born This Way Foundation supports the wellness of young
people and empowers them to create a kinder and braver world by
fostering kindness, improving mental health resources and creating more
positive environments. For the fourth year in a row, Staples is also
donating $1 million to DonorsChoose.org, an organization that has funded
more than 900,000 classroom projects for teachers since its founding,
benefiting more than 22 million students.

Together through this unique partnership with Lady Gaga, her Born This
Way Foundation and DonorsChoose.org, the Staples for Students program
will help to promote kindness in schools across America and ensure that
teachers and students have the resources they need for successful
learning in classrooms.

“Teaming up with Lady Gaga, Born This Way Foundation and
DonorsChoose.org is an amazing opportunity for the Staples for Students
program to support teachers and help create a more positive classroom
experience,” said Frank Bifulco, chief marketing officer, Staples.
“There’s a correlation between kindness and overall well-being among
students, and we hope that together with these perfect partners that
we’ll be able to create an environment for students that will help them
flourish in school and propel them into their bright futures.”

Lady Gaga said, “Classrooms that are positive and welcoming are
classrooms where students can discover their passions and unlock their
full potential. I’m excited to work with Staples, DonorsChoose.org and
Born This Way Foundation to help teachers and students make their
schools more supportive and engaging places. Kindness is one of the most
important and most impactful values we can instill in students, and I
look forward to working with Staples to foster a positive classroom
environment where every student feels safe, heard and empowered.”

The 2017 Staples for Students program is propelled by several sobering
statistics:

According to the Education Market Association, an estimated 99.5% of
all public school teachers use their own money to equip their
classrooms – frequently at a cost of more than $400 per year.

Sesame Workshop reports that 86% of teachers (and 70% of parents)
admit to worrying often that the world is an unkind place for children.

Lady Gaga and Staples are also collaborating on a Public Service
Announcement that debuts nationally at the end of June, further
emphasizing the need to support teachers and students.

“Staples has been a generous and valued partner of ours for years, and
we’re so thankful for its continued support of our mission, which has
helped bring learning to life for thousands of teachers and students in
classrooms nationwide,” said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org.

“By creating school climates that are grounded in compassion and
generosity we can help to support the emotional well-being of our young
people, ensuring they can learn effectively and grow into happy,
thriving adults,” said Cynthia Germanotta, co-founder and president of
Born This Way Foundation. “We thank Staples for its generous donation
and for understanding that the boundless potential of young people can
be unlocked by spreading kindness.”

Win a $50,000 Scholarship and the chance to
meet Lady GagaStaples is a proud sponsor of the 2017
Lady Gaga Joanne tour promoted by Live Nation. Beginning June 25, 2017,
fans will have the opportunity to enter the Staples for Students
Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $50,000 scholarship. The lucky grand
prize winner will also win a trip to Las Vegas to meet Lady Gaga and see
her in concert. Five additional winners will receive a trip to Las Vegas
and tickets to Lady Gaga in concert on December 16, 2017.

Visit StaplesForStudents.org
starting June 25, 2017 for sweepstakes rules and to learn how to
enter. Entries must be submitted before September 16, 2017 at 11:59 PM
ET and entrants must be 13 years or older.

About Staples, Inc.Staples brings
technology and people together in innovative ways to consistently
deliver products, services and expertise that elevate and delight
customers. Staples is in business with businesses and is passionate
about empowering people to become true professionals at work.
Headquartered outside of Boston, Mass., Staples, Inc. operates primarily
in North America, with additional offices in South America and Asia.
More information about Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS) is available at www.staples.com.

About Staples for StudentsStaples
has a long history of supporting students, teachers and classrooms.
Staples for Students is an ongoing program that helps students and
teachers with the school supplies and essential items needed to achieve
success in education. The Staples for Students campaign has included
school supply drives, support for teachers in classrooms, donations for
education projects, classroom initiatives such as Designed by Students,
and the sale of products that give back to communities and classrooms in
need.

About DonorsChoose.orgDonorsChoose.org
is the leading platform for giving to public schools. Teachers across
America use the site to create projects requesting resources their
students need, and donors give to the projects that inspire them. Since
its founding by a Bronx teacher in 2000, more than 2 million people and
partners have given $547 million to projects reaching 22 million
students. Unique among crowdfunding platforms, the DonorsChoose.org team
vets each project request and ships resources directly to the school.
Every donor receives photos of their project in action, thank-yous from
the classroom, and a cost report showing how every dollar was spent.
DonorsChoose.org was the first charity to make the top 10 on Fast
Company’s list of the Most Innovative Companies in the World. Visit www.donorschoose.org
to learn more.

About Born This Way FoundationLed
by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, Born This Way Foundation
was founded in 2012 to support the wellness of young people and empower
them to create a kinder and braver world. Born This Way Foundation
achieves this by shining a light on real people, quality research, and
authentic partnerships. Working with more than 50 non-profit
organizations, Born This Way Foundation has connected more than 150,000
young people with services and programing in their communities. Born
This Way Foundation has also partnered with the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln to collect data from more than 10,000 young people,
improving understanding of the factors that affect youth wellbeing and
empowerment. Visit us at bornthisway.foundation.org.